Estimating Largemouth Bass Exploitation Rate Across Northwest Florida Lakes Using High Reward Tags

Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides are a popular freshwater sport fish in Florida and are actively managed at both the individual lake and regional scale. The Northwest region of Florida, west of the Suwannee River, has separate largemouth bass length and bag limits from other regions of the state.  However, little is known about actual fishing pressure and harvest rate in this region. To better understand region-wide exploitation of largemouth bass, we used high-reward ($100) plastic tipped dart tags. One hundred fifty-nine legal-sized largemouth bass (≥ 305 mm) were tagged throughout 16 lakes in November-December 2012. The number of tagged fish in each lake was proportional to lake size, and size distribution of tagged fish was based on past sampling data (where available). Preliminary results indicate that a substantial number of anglers are harvesting largemouth bass in this region and that angler attitudes towards harvesting bass vary widely. As additional tags are returned, we will calculate a region-wide estimate of exploitation which could be used to help structure future management and regulation decisions.